Episodes

  • Sanctity of Human Life Day 2026

    Sanctity of Human Life Day 2026
    Jan 18 2026
    In January 1984, President Ronald Reagan issued a presidential proclamation to create National Sanctity of Human Life Day, which is usually celebrated on the third Sunday of January. Each year, pastors and churches across the United States use this day to bring awareness to the attacks against human life through the abortion industry. Join us for a special presentation from Kenneth Aycock from Families 4 Families, a faith-based foster care agency committed to connecting local churches with loving families to care for children in Georgia’s foster system. Together, we’ll learn of the many ways people can get involved in foster care and ask, “What can we say ‘yes’ to today?”
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    42 mins
  • Overflow Series Part 2: Full of Joy

    Overflow Series Part 2: Full of Joy
    Jan 11 2026
    Last week, we began a series called Overflow, which stems from one word the Lord spoke to Pastor John in December: full. Jesus said the enemy only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came to bring us a full and abundant life. Jesus also said that what fills you up on the inside will make its way to the surface for all to see. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, and from the root of the tree, the fruit is produced. The overflow of our lives — the things we say and do — is directly connected to what fills us. In the time of the year when people do some self-reflection and are most likely to try to make changes in their lives, the goal is to not focus too much on the outside stuff. What you see is not the problem; it’s the symptom. If you want the overflow of your life to look different, you’re going to have to see what fills your soul. We started off talking about being full of love; this week’s message is Full of Joy.
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    38 mins
  • Overflow Series Part 1: Full of Love

    Overflow Series Part 1: Full of Love
    Jan 4 2026
    Lots of people are reflecting on their lives at this time of the year. They feel the disconnect between who they are and who they want to be. All the devil offers is death, destruction, and loss, but Jesus is offering the opposite of that. The “full” life He offers means of the highest quality. It means an abundance, but it starts on the inside. Jesus said in Matthew that what’s on the inside will make its way to the outside. What you are full of on the inside will be obvious through your words and actions. That principle is true for good stuff and for bad stuff. Jesus said that what comes out of your mouth is the overflow of your heart, so if you want your life to look different, you have to change what’s going on inside. This week, we’re kicking off a new series focused on this concept, and we’re starting with the importance of love.
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    39 mins
  • And a Blessed New Year

    And a Blessed New Year
    Dec 28 2025
    As we move from one year to another, many people find themselves hoping for success and direction in the future, and they are often seeking the secret of a divine connection with God. The secret is that there is no secret; it’s been written in the Bible for 2,000 years. If you want to connect and communicate with God in a powerful way, He’s already told us how to do that: prayer. Jesus taught the disciples how to pray in Luke and Matthew. Praying the exact prayer that Jesus taught is a powerful way to pray. If you believe what you’re saying, it will change you, but that prayer really serves as a pattern for us to follow. This week, we’re breaking down the different sections of that prayer, so we know what to include in our own conversations with God.
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    27 mins
  • Christmas the Way It Had to Be

    Christmas the Way It Had to Be
    Dec 21 2025
    Why did Christmas have to be the way it was?The birth of Jesus was so unconventional and so unexpected that even good Jewish people, who had been anticipating the coming of Messiah their whole lives, missed it. Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that there was a plan and that God was waiting for the right time. One version calls it the fullness of time. If God had a plan for WHEN it was going to happen, don’t you think there must have also been a plan for HOW it was supposed to happen and — more importantly — for WHY it had to happen the way it did? This week, we’re looking at Jesus’s life, talking about Christmas the way it had to be and exploring the big picture God was trying to accomplish.
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    26 mins
  • Salvation in a Curse: The Genesis of Christmas

    Salvation in a Curse: The Genesis of Christmas
    Dec 14 2025
    In the American church, we have turned the account of the birth of Jesus into some sort of Christian mythology. We only talk about it in December, keep it separated from the rest of the Bible and do our best to downplay the supernatural aspects. It’s like we keep it in a red and green spiritual Christmas tote that we only pull out of storage on Thanksgiving and then put back promptly on December 26. Despite this fact, the first reference to Christmas in the Bible isn’t even in Matthew or Luke. It’s also not in Isaiah or any of the other prophetic books. It’s in Genesis. There is no mention of wisemen, no angelic visitations and no mangers, but there it is — right there in the first book of the Bible. It’s there that we find both the subtle sin and the surprising solution that created Christmas in the first place.
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    34 mins
  • Missing Jesus

    Missing Jesus
    Dec 7 2025
    What if the wise men only went to where Jesus was because they were excited about the astronomical changes going on in the eastern sky? The shepherds, the innkeeper and countless descendants of King David could have easily all had other things on their mind. We don’t know whose lives were changed as a result of their role in the Christmas account, and as a result, it’s possible they all missed Jesus. If you look around, there’s a lot of things going on during this season — shopping, decorating, cooking, wrapping, vacationing, attending parties and more. It would not be hard to have something to do every day of December. It’s easy for us to shake our heads in judgment at how spiritually dull the people of the Bible were, but in all of our running around this time of year, are we also missing Jesus?
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    34 mins
  • Christmas Courage

    Christmas Courage
    Nov 30 2025
    Every year in the fall, Pastor John sits down and re-reads the Christmas accounts from Matthew and Luke, asking the Lord to show him something fresh. This year, he was struck by the difficult decisions that had to be made in order for the birth of Jesus to take place exactly the way it did. These were gut-wrenching and dangerous decisions. We have certainly faced gut-wrenching and dangerous decisions before, and there will be more of those types of decisions off and on the rest of our lives — not just once or twice but over and over. This week, we’re exploring some principles we can glean from these Christmas accounts to help us have courage as we face hard choices.
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    37 mins